Dont Step On the Lines

by Ben Richards

Kerry, not yet quite over the death of her boyfriend Gary, has returned to college as a mature student. Her friend and flatmate Marco watches Kerry's progress with a mixture of love and envy while he drifts in and out of jobs, relationships and drugs. Then Robin appears - a fellow student who represents new possibilities to Kerry, but means only trouble to Marco.

Genres: Novels

288 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second novel from Richards is a bit of a disappointment following his excellent debut, "Throwing the House of the Window." Richards is again mainly exploring how someone in their late 20s deals with picking their life back up after a traumatic relationship event. Here, however, the main character, Kerry, is female and there isn't the threat of violence lurking. Kerry and her best friend/roommate Marco are fairly engaging characters, the first trying to restart her life, the latter trying not to grow up. Many of the themes and touchstones (London neighborhoods, drugs, messy relationships, bad jobs, school, dealing with your family) are familiar, and unfortunately Richards fails to add anything particularly new or insightful to the mix. Hornby, Welsh, Amis, Hawes, et al have all trod of various parts of the same territory with far better results. It's not bad, just not all that noteworthy.

[Jane Cullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flashback into 90’s London.

[Jon Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just reread Throwing The House… I had to dig this out of the attic to read again too. A great read, just about normal stuff that happens. I really like Ben Richard’s books.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Richards writes well, his stories are very engaging from the start even when, as here, the main characters are completely infuriating! But they are real, I believe them and, by the end of the book, I believe in them. I want them to be ok, even if they aren't quite living happily ever after. The ending is right not soppy, it's not a book for people who need fairy-tale conclusions.

My one dissatisfaction about the book is only a slight unease, the time setting isn't quite right, it slides around a bit. Are we in the late seventies, the eighties or the nineties? There were drugs in all these eras, used casually by all sectors of society not just students, but the technology seems a little out of joint. References to computers and mobile phones yet nobody has them, vinyl records in periods when most were using cassette tapes or cd's. But I suppose anybody younger than me wouldn't get these subtleties anyway so it probably doesn't matter.

This is a very good story and I may well read it again, like his previous novel, 'Throwing the house Out of the window, ' which I've already read twice.

[Hannah Simmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters were interesting and believable and Richards does a good job at portraying both female and male voice. It lacks intensity in places, mostly in regard to action (I'm thinking this is because it's a realist novel, meant to highlight the day-to-day for students in the nineties, which is understandable). But its average rating comes from its failure to truly excite me. I was all too happy to put it down and return to it in my own time. However, it's well-written and engaging and I liked it so 3 stars.

[David Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twenty/thirty something people on the edge of youth & something somewhat more "grown-up" in London, written in the late 90s. Another tale well-told by Richards, pulling us in and letting us feel what this kind of life is like, mixing work, college, unemployment and a social life with family and relationships. Nothing spectacular happens, but it's a page-turner because I cared about the characters. Well, a few - some could go jump, hehe.